10 comments:

They aren't taken seriously because they don't generally shoot people for not paying attention to them. If necassary I will remedy this problem when I finally finish editing stabs editing and find an agent.

As a courtesy to my future agent I will use a paint gun and not something that could be construed as lethal force.

Okay- read the article.... JKR is not my favorite author of all time. I know she appeals to people but I freely admit I've bashed JKR (and her editor) before. It has nothing to do with her gender. I just honestly don't care for the way she writes.

But some of the other authors listed I love. Cavanan and Pierce in particular, I think I have all their books and highly recommend them. People who don't appreciate their skills and story-telling talent should be approached with caution.

Why are female authors dissed? My guess (with no scientific evidence to back this up) is that the literary world is stilld ragging its heels into the 21st century. Thirty years ago women wore dresses and worked as secretaries or teachers, if they worked at all. And women were expected to write romance like Jane Austen. Now women are CEO's and running for president, but the cave-men males of the old-boys-club with their literary pretensions still expect women to write romance... like Jane Austen.

Let them complain. JKR, despite everything negative said about her, is a wealthy and happy woman. She published the books she wanted to and she is a household name, unlike the repressed young man who shredded her in his paper.

The average reader is not a literary critic. The average reader DOES NOT care who the author is. The average reader grabs a book because it has a cool cover, checks the back, might check the first few pages, and will remeber the main characters name and plot line when they go looking for the next book.

My reaction before reading the article was, "They aren't?" I mean, SFF authors have a hard time getting taken seriously at all, and the JKR backlash isn't much different from, say, the Tolkein backlash.

Now having read the article, I don't think that the author makes much of a case that JKR is being maligned for being a woman. All of the quotes given reference her bad writing, not her femininity. Not even obliquely. Really, all the author does is cherry-pick a few male authors who are recognized, and a few female authors who aren't recognized but should be. That doesn't prove anything.

There may be a bias against female SFF writers, but the article in question hardly demonstrates it.

There's a very serious bias against female SFF writers-- they may sell, but that doesn't mean they're taken seriously by the larger population, and historically they haven't been. While this article could've used a little more scholarly approach to its proof, it brings up a good, valid point. It's an editorial, that's what they do, give their opinion.

I've seen men who read Piers Anthony (the biggest misogynist-- maybe not in real life, I don't know the guy, but as a writer-- I've ever had the misfortune to experience) dismiss amazing women writers like Marion Zimmer Bradley just like that. "Too much goddess crap", "she's just writing about sex!", "Lancelot wasn't gay!" (here's a hint silly guys: read Malory. MZB didn't invent that. It's a well-discussed issue in Arthurian Studies, man.)

Not all men, of course, not even by a long shot. But as I say, this IS a valid point. Thanks for the link, I enjoyed it!

Ah, these criticisms of women SF/F authors so often rear their ugly heads, not that the ivory tower-literati such as Howard Bloom, haven't leveled such pedantic attacks on male authors as well, such as Stephen King. It's a much an attack on the populist as the feminine.

Speaking from the trenches as a bookseller who runs the SF/F and horror sections of a huge brick- and-mortar, I can say without hesitation that the number of women buying SF/F has expanded exponentially over the past ten years, as has the number of men discovering that much of the best SF/F today is being written by women. The number of immensely gifted female writers breaking out of obscurity and commanding the best-seller lists has more than trippled. The people whose opinions matter most, the readers, surely recognize how many brilliant female writeres there are in SF/F, and give them due appreciation.

A pantheon of three--Lessing, LeGuin, and Atwood? What about some of the brilliant, socially conscious writing of Elizabeth Moon with her painful/moving account of autism? What about Marion Zimmer Bradley's Authorian revisions, Mercedes Lackey breaking down gender and sexual stereotypes, Anne McCaffrey's reinvention of the dragon mythos, Elizabeth Bear's stunningly literate steampunk contributions? Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series--a vicious, sexually charged feat of world building, and exploration of power dynamics between women and men?

Recently a friend who was deployed in this God-awful war introduced me to C.S. Friedman's "Cold Fire Trilogy." Christ that woman soared right to the top of my pantheon! Incredible, epic-story telling, dark and free of fantasy cliches, with environmental and gender themes and a universe where black and white dissolve into grey moral ambiguities. She eclipses George R.R. Martin. Read her and you won't help but be able to take her seriously. And why didn't the writer of the U.K. article think to mention Octavia Butler?

I don't read enough critics' reviews to know if female authors are being dissed or not. At least we no longer have to change our names to Andre (or other male monikers) just to get published. So there's been progress. Speculative fiction as a whole tends to be sneered upon by "literary" types. I don't have time to stress over whether or not my gender will affect critics.

Female writers aren't taken seriously. Forget the "in SF/F" part. Female writers seem to actually garner more respect in SF/F than in literary circles, at least if you look at awards. (And, anecdotally, the number of men who only read men seems to me to be higher amongst literary readers than amongst sf/f readers). This is a problem regardless of genre.

I did a run-down of awards when this came up at the Poets & Writers Speakeasy just about exactly a year ago - here are the results I got at the time:

About the Swivet

The Swivet is maintained by Colleen Lindsay; I'm Associate Director Marketing, Social Media and Reader Experience at the NAL/Berkley Publishing Groups, divisions of Penguin Group (USA). You can learn more about me here.

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog; opinions expressed herein are entirely my own and do not reflect those of Penguin Group (USA) or any of its affiliates.

(This blog is currently a work-in-progress; forgive the mess! And I don't post very frequently these days. Mea culpa!)Where You Can Find Me in 2013:Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo